'70 Nova LSX swap LY6/TH400 - Page 45

TheBandit · #**881** 02-20-2018, 11:54 AM

I finally got to install the Hellwig sway bar I bought 6 months ago. It required drilling some holes through the frame rails. The holes a reinforced with a through-sleeve. I did not think I could fit the drill on the inside of the rail, so I used an extra long bit and did my best to align it by eye.

Once the holes were drilled it was just a matter of lubing all the bushings and assembling the hardware. I had to drill the hole pretty low on the rail to provide clearance between the end link and the fuel line.

I would have liked to put the swaybar directly under the axle, but to get a good position for the end links I had to rotate it back a bit, so the brackets are on the tube at about 45 degrees instead of level. Hopefully that doesn't cause any problems.

TheBandit · #**882** 02-20-2018, 11:55 AM

My next project is parking brake cables. I have seen a number of write-ups where people modified the "LS1" brake cables to work with these cars, but I haven't seen people modify the stock Nova cables. Why not? I picked up a couple of turnbuckles from the hardware store and dropped them in vinegar to remove the zinc plating.

Here's a video of my son helping me clean up the workbench and work on our little chemistry experiment. You can't see much - just little bubbles forming.

I had to leave them overnight because vinegar is a very weak acid, but it seemed to do the trick.

I found a 3/16" turbuckle fits perfectly over the parking brake lever and the screw hole is very close diameter to the stock parking cable. My plan is to remove the original swaged end from the cable and weld this on in it's place.

Once that was figured out, I whipped up a bracket from angle iron.

The bracket mounts to the u-bolts and angles the cable (5deg out, 10deg upward) to work inline with the lever. I just need to make the mirror image of it for the other side before I finish cut the cables and weld the ends on.

juicedz4 · #**883** 02-20-2018, 11:58 AM

Looks great to me. The angle of the brackets shouldnt mater at all. All that really matters is the bar is connected to the axle.

juicedz4 · #**884** 02-20-2018, 12:05 PM

And Im curious to see how the cable welds to that clevis. Id probably leave the cable long so it protrudes to the inside of the clevis, then expand the cable out and weld that side too. If its a pretty tight fit to begin with flaring it out and welding it should keep it from pulling through.

This is how Ive done throttle cables to brass ends. The solder doesnt really stick to the steel cable, but it keeps the strands spread out in the brass end so they cant pull through.

Dan

TheBandit · #**885** 02-20-2018, 12:13 PM

I have also been thinking about trying a swaging tool on it without doing any welding at all. I do have that hydraulic hex crimper for doing battery cables ends. Hmm

juicedz4 · #**886** 02-20-2018, 01:35 PM

Thats a good idea. I wonder if you could just shove the cable through and crimp a new end on with it. Or maybe thats what you meant

TheBandit · #**887** 02-20-2018, 01:45 PM

There's not enough room for a new cable end inside of the turnbuckle, at least not the larger OD aluminum ends they sell at the hardware store. Also I need most of the inside length of the turnbuckle for sufficient install clearance when putting it over the lever hook. I do like the idea though. I was thinking maybe I could just crimp down the body of the turnbuckle itself, but I'm kinda leaning toward welding still.

entropy · #**888** 02-20-2018, 04:43 PM

Most cable is a steel alloy that hardens when heated to critical temp.
It gets brittle at the HAZ.
I have had zero long term success welding cable.

E

TheBandit · #**889** 02-20-2018, 04:45 PM

Thanks for the input. What do you think about trying to crimp the turnbuckle end onto the cable using this? The threads on the ID could act is serrations to grip the cable. I think with the hydraulic assist it could crimp it down pretty solid.

entropy · #**890** 02-20-2018, 05:36 PM

I think I would do a test with a piece of Hardware store cable and turnbuckle.
I would expect the cast T-buckle, to Crack, before you get a good crimp.

TheBandit · #**891** 02-20-2018, 05:46 PM

Sounds like a plan. If it doesn't work out, I will probably weld or look for a crimpable wire cable end that has the right shape.

alwaysFlOoReD · #**892** 02-20-2018, 10:32 PM

Would silver solder or braze be strong enough and not affect the cable?

TheBandit · #**893** 02-21-2018, 12:36 AM

Tonight I found I can get a crimp wire cable end in there just barely and still just barely get it over the lever hook. Meant to be! I'll post photos tomorrow. Thanks for making me rethink it.

TheBandit · #**894** 02-21-2018, 12:25 PM

I picked up some 1/8" wire cable stops at the hardware store. They only had aluminum ones and prior to crimping they are way too big to fit into the turnbuckle. But I figured I'd give them a try anyway using a new length of cable for testing.

I used my hydraulic hex crimper to attach the end. Due to the narrow width of the dies, I had to make a series of crimps along the length of the cable stop until the whole thing was crimped down. There was significant elongation and diameter reduction, so I am confident the aluminum flowed between the wires as it's supposed to, but I had to reduce the size so much to fit into the turnbuckle - I'm not sure if it will cause any problems with the performance. These ends are rated to 340lb. Hopefully that is enough for what I'm doing. If not, I can probably take the cables to a rigging house and get steel ends put on later.

I went ahead and did a test pull with my spring gauge. No issues at 55 lb. I might try to put more weight on it to test capacity later.

The cable stop took up about half the length I had inside the turnbuckle and I was really worried about getting it on and off the lever hook for the parking brake. I eventually figured out that if I fed the cable out a little, I could bend it out of the way and get it over the hook.

So it looks like that will work and if it fails I have a backup plan to get steel ends put on. I think this is a better, more conventional solution than welding and it cost less than $3 per cable for the hardware. Fingers crossed it will work on the actual cables!

CarterKraft · #**895** 02-21-2018, 03:35 PM

On a well funtioning park brake system I bet it works great, if it was old rusty junk with allot of friction then it may not survive.
Even in a failure the it shouldn't be to difficult to get it done "right".

TheBandit · #**896** 02-23-2018, 02:09 PM

Last night I knocked out a second, mirror image bracket for the parking brake. I made these out of 1-1/4" angle iron and incorporated a few angles to put the cable in line with the parking brake lever and maintain wheel clearance. Here you can see the 9/16" hole I drilled to accept the factory brake cable PRIOR to cutting it with a bandsaw so I would have something to hold onto while I drilled. This tab is cut at a 5 degree angle so when viewed from above, the cable is routed inward toward the center of the car and away from the wheel.

Here are a couple more shots of one of the brackets. They are 5" long measured at the top edge with a 10deg angle cut at the front. When looking from the side of the car, the 10deg points the cable downward at the front which matches the angle of the parking brake lever. If you are doing an LS1 brake swap on an unmodified rear end, the angle needed here will be less; I intentionally rotated my brakes a bit to add clearance with the leaf spring. The holes for the u-bolts are 5/8" diameter and 3-1/2" apart. The parking brake tab is welded on with the hole about at the center of the top of the bracket. This position was based on holding a ruler against the parking brake lever and drawing a line into the angle iron to ensure the cable would pull in line with the lever.

I was finally ready to cut the ends off the original cables. I used a pair of bolt cutters which made easy work of the 1/8" cable.

Next (not shown), I put tension on the cable system and used vice grips to hold the cables while I marked where the ends would need to go. I did this with the factory cable adjustment all the way out so I would have adjustment to add more tension once installed. I did not worry about marking each side at equal length; instead I measured the difference side to side under tension so I could compensate when attaching the ends. I found one side was about 1/2" shorter than the other, so when I attached the ends I moved each side by 1/4" from my mark so the cable lengths would be the same left to right when finished.

As described previously, the cable ends are 3/16" zinc turnbuckles with 1/8" aluminum cable stops from the hardware store. I crimped to the cable stops using a hydraulic hex crimper. The parking brake cables are the original cables from my Nova and other than the ends they are not modified.

Lastly (not shown), I grabbed a couple of 3/4" diameter x 6" compression springs from the hardware store. I cut 1" off the end using bolt cutters, thereby reducing the length to 5". I started by attaching the cable end onto the parking brake lever, then put the bracket into place (compressing the spring), and finally I connected the other end of the cable at the frame end. It was not easy to get the turnbuckle over the lever hook, but with slack in the system it could be done. Here is what the finished assembly looks like.

Cost of the hardware was as follows: $5 for a length of angle iron. $1.50ea for the turnbuckles. $0.50 each for the cable stops. $6 for the pair of compression springs. $1 ea for nylock nuts to attach to the u-bolts (you could put the brackets under the main u-bolt nuts but I wanted to be able to R&R without messing with the leaf springs). Total for the cable and bracketry comes out to about $16.

After adjusting the cable I was able to get good feedback from the parking brake pedal and pop release. Here is a video of it in action.

I am very happy with how it turned out and I hope it works as well as an OEM drum-in-hat parking brake should. I have a sloped driveway and I do not like relying on just the internal pawl on the transmission.

TheBandit · #**897** 03-01-2018, 11:39 AM

There's nothing worse than walking by your project car day after day watching the dust accumulate. I think it's been on stands since October. Just look at all that dust!

TheBandit · #**898** 03-01-2018, 05:37 PM

Alright that's it. I can't keep it a secret any longer. Here are the new wheels and tires. They 18x8 4.5"bs and 18x9 5"bs (both 0 offset) Rev Classic 107 with GM "derby" style caps and 235/40R18 and 255/40R18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Pictures show the rear tucked at ride height and fronts still at full droop. I can't wait to get the car on the ground. The back is going to sit a lot lower than it used to. Unfortunately the tires get a little lost in the shadows in these photos.

The "rubber band" look is going to take some getting used to. I like my sidewalls plump and juicy but I went the other direction to get "more better" modern tires. The wheels are a throwback to my first 7 years with the car. Back then it had 14x7 and 15x8 and steel rallies with 195/60R14 and 275/60R15 if I remember correctly.

I'm embracing the "restomod" theme with this car. I want a vintage original feel with modern performance. Hope y'all like my choice but I understand if you don't!

TheBandit · #**899** 03-13-2018, 12:31 PM

The last few weeks have been very busy personally, so to make progress on the Nova I've been doing a bunch of very short (<30min) trips to the garage. One day I filled the diff:

Another day, I put the rear brake lines back on the axle and connected everything.

Some other day I loaded the brake pads (Hawk HPS) and bolted down the calipers

With the rear lines finally all connected, I could turn my attention rearranging the mess shown below. These are the factory disc/drum hard lines around the master cylinder and distribution block for my '70 Nova. I decided I want to keep the original distribution block because it has an integral brake warning switch that triggers an idiot light if there's a pressure imbalance between the front and rear. Once I had a leaky master that went unnoticed until the brake light started going off near the bottom of pedal travel, so I decided I want it to function. If you don't care for that feature, there are a few great aftermarket combo valves that incorporate the distribution block with a proportioning valve and keep everything tidy. Some have a brake light switch, but that is a different function from the switch this block has.

I forgot to snap a photo, but my system originally had a fixed proportioning valve on the side of the subframe, which I needed to replace with something adjustable for the new disc/disc combo. For now, I decided to keep the original style master cylinder even though it was made for a disc/drum application. The main difference between a disc/drum and a disc/disc master is the size of the rear reservoir and the potential inclusion of a residual pressure valve in the rear port. A disc/disc master has a larger rear reservoir to accommodate pad wear which normally isn't a problem for a drum rear system that has a mechanical adjuster to take up wear. This means I will have to keep an eye on the rear reservoir level as the pads wear, but most likely I will replace the master before there's a dramatic change.

I expected to find a residual pressure valve in my master's rear port, but after pulling the lines I found a drill bit could insert right through, indicating the spring/valve mechanism was not installed. This is a reman master and I've heard they often left the valves out.

The next task was finding a suitable location for the new adjustable proportioning valve. It wouldn't quite fit under the master due to little space between the master and distribution block. My favorite spot was directly next to the master cylinder, but I could not figure out how I'd mount it. So I finally decided to secure it to the inner fender with a pair of rivnuts.

Next I carefully replicated most of the bends of the factory hard line that ran from the distribution block down to the original proportioning valve that was on the frame. Getting that line in and out past the steering box and between the floorpan of the car was a total PITA, but having it in position gave me a point of reference to make the last few bends to the valve.

The factory uses spiral/coil loops and/or S-bends to provide strain relief near connections like these. This makes the tubing more flexible so it can be installed easily and adjusted for misalignment. To make my own coil, I grabbed a used differential crush sleeve and simply wrapped the tubing around it by hand.

Here is what the line looks like installed. It runs from the outlet of the proportioning valve down to a coupling by the subframe which replaced the original proportioning valve. From that coupling it connects to the original line and runs to the rear, where it connects to the softline that takes it down to the differential.

The stainless steel spring stuff around the brakelines is for abrasion resistance and general protection. I put it on the tubing and cut it to length before adding the last fitting and flare. It can be a challenge to get the tube into the flaring tool while the spring is trying to push the fitting off. To keep the fitting out of the die, insert an open end wrench between the die and the fitting.

My 7yr old son made the last line at the front. I helped him measure and mark and let him make all the bends and flares himself. It could definitely be more tucked, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Once that was all together, I used a one-man bleeder (tube with check valve and small reservoir) and worked to clear the system. I started with the rears and it took damn near 100 pumps of the pedal before fluid starting coming out. Dry systems are always a bear! Some day I'll get a better tool for bleeding. The little bit of fluid that was still in the used calipers came out a little cloudy but not too bad. Eventually everything was flushed clear with new dot 5 silicon fluid. I swear by the stuff because it doesn't eat paint and it works fine for my use.

All this occurred over a few weeks and a series of short trips to the garage. I don't think any two of the brake lines were made same day. Family time is my priority, so progress on the car is slow.

TheBandit · #**900** 03-13-2018, 12:32 PM

I finished bleeding the brakes Saturday morning and of course Saturday morning it started to rain. I watched it drizzle while the kids and I put the wheels and tires back on and carefully lowered the car onto it's new shoes. By some stroke of luck, we got a break in the clouds long enough to pull the car out.

It probably will not show in photos, but the combination of the new Hotchkis 1.5" rear drop springs and 2" smaller OD tires made a huge difference in perceived ride height. The front has AFCO 600lb springs and adjusters set to mimic the Hotchkis 2" drop springs, so now the car should be riding about where their "TVS" suspension would. It no longer has the mean rake or fat sidewalls that I loved and the new wheels seem enormous, but that being said, I am very happy with my wheel choice. I am embracing the "restomod" concept and I think the big rally wheels suit it well.

Unfortunately I did not get to drive it beyond pulling out of the garage and doing a couple circles and brake checks in the cul-de-sac. I did not want to be out on wet roads without having the brake bias adjusted yet and the clouds opened back up just moments after taking photos. Rain continued the rest of the weekend so it will be a few days before I can get it back out. When the weather clears I plan to give her a bath and take her on a shakedown drive. I'll be sure to snap more photos when the time comes.